Headwear, such as caps, headbands and hats, has been used in the past as a site for attaching a device for display or other use on or about the wearer's head. For example, Cureton, U.S. Pat. No. 1,618,517, issued Feb. 22, 1927, shows a donkey's ear-like appendage attached to the side of a hat and moved up and down simultaneously with the wearer (or other person) pulling on a string. Perlman, U.S. Pat. No. 4,832,647, issued May 23, 1989, discloses a hat "clapper" wherein hands attached to the side of a hat are caused to move back and forth in a clapping motion due to simultaneous pulling on a string. Also, Dane, U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,280, issued May 6, 1986, shows a mug on top of the visor of a baseball cap and having a device that makes it look as though a fluid is being continuously dispensed into the mug. The device contains a small motor and pump to circulate the fluid from the bottom of the mug up through a conduit within the cap to a small dispensing tap mounted above the mug. Lowen, U.S. Pat. No. 4,488,372, issued Dec. 18, 1984, shows a motor driven "beanie" type of head device showing a long rod attached at the top of the wearer's head that rotates in a circle.
With the advent of the baseball cap, sports teams, advertisers and cap manufacturers have sewn, stitched, ironed-on, and through various other means, affixed the logo of their teams, company or message to the forehead covering portion of the cap.
Others have made the visor of a translucent plastic and painted their logos or messages directly onto the visor.
The U.S. Military uses the visor to display rank. In the army the visor on caps is used to display the stars of generals. And in the navy and NASA, the visor is used to display the "scrambled eggs" epaulets of officers.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,836,820 to Satoru Ebihara, and Jiro Yamaguchi illustrates a moving animal toy whose wind-up operating mechanism is the closest application of a wind up system the applicant could find to the invention present for the Examiner's review in this patent application. Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 4,422,261 to Michihiro Kozuka, and Masayuki Tonokura teaches a method of accomplishing pivotal movement of a toy on a support surface with a similar wind-up mechanism.
MAGIC VISOR.RTM., patent pending n. 75210371, distributed by Davidcraft Corporation, Ill. 60645, illustrates a battery powered visor that features a fan, a flashlight and an air freshener.
The Johnson Smith Company (4514 9th Court East, P.O. Box 255500, Bradenton, Fla. 34206-5500) catalog offers for sale many hat inventions and novelties in its current "Things You Never Knew Existed (.TM.) . . . and others you can't possibly live without!" catalog. On page 24 of the company's catalog issue No. 912, the company offers for sale a Deluxe AM/FM cap. According to the sales copy it's a lightweight cap with a concealed built-in radio. Earphones are incorporated into the design and wires are hidden from view.
Page 6 of the Mar. 1991 "The Sharper Image" catalog (650 Davis Street, San Francisco, Calif. 94111) shows a baseball cap with a solar powered fan.